Up, up, up: Climbing Mt. Machu Picchu and our final days in Peru

This was going to be the day! We were excited and a little nervous too. We woke up around 8am to have breakfast at the hotel before we made the climb up Machu Picchu Mountain. We ate rather lightly, wanting energy for the climb, but not wanting to be too full.

We met our guide, Arturo, around 9:30 in the front of the Sanctuary Lodge (read the first three parts of our Peru travels here, here, and here.). The line was already quite long but moved relatively quickly as Arturo navigated us through our many fellow tourists. We had until 10am to sign-in at the Mt. Machu Picchu trail head kiosk and begin our accent up the mountain. Once we entered the gates of Machu Picchu, we had a twenty-minute walk up to arrive at the trail head. We made it in plenty of time, however already a bit out-of-breath.

At the trail head, there is a kiosk where one signs their name and the time they enter and leave the mountain. We excitedly signed in and began heading up the (endless) stone stairs that led to the top.

If you have been following mine and/or Phil’s blog for a while, you know we are not strangers to hiking, having encountered many mountainous trails during our time in Asturias and Spain at large. During those hikes, however, we did not have to deal with super-high elevation. We also hiked them during a time in our lives that we were easily averaging 15k+ steps a day. It has now been two years since we left Spain and while we still make an effort to walk, hike, and stay in shape, it is simply not possible for us to move as much as we did living in Spain on a daily basis. We work full time and the US has a driving culture. Aside from major cities, one’s neighborhood is usually not set up to be able to walk to the grocery store, work, restaurants, etc… All this to say, I believe I overestimated my climbing ability when signing up for this trek. I have had two friends ask me if we trained for the climb. My response each time was, “No, but we should have.”

Up we went, stopping every “flight” or two of stairs to catch our breath and occasionally have a seat. Arturo had told us that his quickest time up the mountain with a tour was 1 hour and the longest was 1.5 hours. He assured us we had plenty of time and we could continue to stop and have little breaks as needed.

As we made our way, slowly but surely, we encountered other hikers making their way back down. Many offered words of encouragement, said it was beautiful at the top, but acknowledged it was a hard climb. Some of the folks who had signed in at the same time we did, turned around before making it to the peak.

We were making great time when I initially asked Arturo what time it was. We had made it halfway in about 45 minutes. Up, up, up we continued. At this point, sitting down after each set of steps was a must for me. I felt like I could not catch my breath because of the altitude and my knees were aching. I don’t have a problem with my knees, they just didn’t like the never ending stairs apparently. When you are hiking a difficult trek, at some point one may consider turning around and that is just fine. We had made it so far, however, turning around was no longer an option. I was going to make it to the top, dammit!

The next time I asked Arturo what time it was, he told us it was noon. Noon?!? We had been climbing for 2.5 hours. I knew we must be getting close to the top, had to be. He assured us we were and just a few more set up steps to climb. As we continued, a group of hikers were coming down the mountain. One of the fellows just kept saying, “Never again. Never again” to his friend, which Phil and I lol’d at.

Finally, we finally made it to the top! What sweet relief and a sense of accomplishment. Though we did not have long to savor the victory; almost immediately as we climbed the last few steps, the worker at the top who monitored folks coming up and down, told us they were closing and we needed to turn around. ‘Are you f*cking kidding me?’ Arturo talked him into giving us a few minutes, which he grumpily did. Another couple, Columbians we had seen previously on the trail, arrived at the same time we did, so we took turns taking photos for each other.

Three hours after we set up from the entrance gates, we made it to the peak! What a view! The famous Citadel looked so tiny from the top.

There are two mountains one can climb at Machu Picchu, Mount Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu. We chose Mount Machu Picchu even though it is a higher, longer, and all in all (from what I have read) a more difficult hike, because Huayna Picchu sounded scarier to me with small squeeze throughs and many ladder-like areas requiring hand over hand climbing. No thanks. Though, as we were looking down at Huayna Picchu for the last third of our hike to the top of Machu Picchu mountain, I felt that, just maybe, I had made a mistake.

I borrowed the photo below from the Latin America Travel Company’s website to more clearly show the two mountains in relation to each other.

After snapping some photos and sitting on a bench for a few minutes, the worker was, once again, urging us to head back down the mountain. So, down we went. The worker was right behind me and I could hear the tap, tap, tap of his walking stick on the steps as we descended. We made it down the mountain in half an hour! Although my legs wanted a break, they were shaking so much I was afraid to try to stop for fear I might collapse. I felt like that famous video of the dehydrated marathon runner who barely made it across the finish line as she became wobbly and disoriented.

We finally made it back to the trail head to sign out…and had another 20 minute walk to the entrance. Oof. Must. Sit. Down. We snapped a few pics before returning to the lodge.

We made it back a little before 2pm. We had another tour planned, this time in the Citadel itself, which we had until 3pm to enter. Luckily, a buffet lunch was included in our stay at the Sanctuary Lodge, and it had all manner of delicious food. Phil filled up a plate for us and brought me a coke, as I requested. The only thing off of the plate that was appealing at that moment was the pizza. I ate pizza and drank the coke. Two big cokes (water too, of course). I couldn’t get enough. I don’t often drink soda, but the trek must have depleted my glucose reserves and the pizza and coke was replenishing what I needed. It was the best damn tasting coke I had ever had in my life.

I told Phil to go to the 3pm tour without me. I didn’t feel like I could possibly exert myself any further. Plus, I really, really, wanted to take a shower. We had already checked out of our hotel, but there are two guest shower areas for folks who stayed at the hotel, checked out, and then climbed a mountain (which is a common occurrence). Perfect.

Off Phil went with Arturo. I finished my coke as I waved to them from the window, then ordered a beer to take with me to the guest shower. I took my time, and by the time I had finished showering and getting ready, Phil and Arturo had returned shortly before we were to meet up with the folks from the Hiram Bingham to enjoy a little happy hour and then catch the bus back down to the train station in Aguas Caliente.

Phil showered while I waited in the lovely garden. We then met up with the train folks and enjoyed champagne and a tasting of several little bites. Even though neither of us were hungry, we ate the bites because, duh, they looked so pretty and they were included. I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to take advantage of tasty food treats, hunger be damned.

After the happy hour, we loaded into the bus and made our way back to the train. When we boarded the Hiram Bingham, the bar was not yet opened, so we took the opportunity to snap some pics in it, just the two of us.

Dinner was tasty and the champagne flowed throughout the ride back. While we did not do any dancing this time (hello, jelly legs), we sat in the bar car after dinner and enjoyed the music and a bit of conversation with a group of Cuban and Venezuelan friends who had all met in Miami we learned.

We were quite chatty and in a great mood when we met up with our driver and handler, Victor and Joseph, recounting our day of climbing to them. Once we were back at the Monestary hotel in Cusco, we enjoyed a couple of tasty cocktails while Joseph handled checking us back in at the front desk. Much to our surprise, the hotel had given us a free upgrade! Our suite was large and even had an upstairs loft, and they left us a little platter of sweets and some champagne! It was a great end to an unforgettable day.

The next morning, we were able to sleep in then enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the courtyard, complete with a coffee tasting which was really fun.

We did not have to meet back up with Joseph and Victor until our 1pm ride back to the airport, so we made a leisurely look through Cusco before returning to the hotel to leave.

We said our goodbyes to Victor and Joseph at the airport, where we took our flight from Cusco back to Lima. This was where our magical tour with Belmond would come to an end. It far exceeded my expectations and was truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

We had one last day in Peru, in Lima, where we stayed at a cute hotel of much less stature, visited a museum, ate some Chinese food and finished it off with some fried Chicken from McDonalds at the airport (surprisingly good!). We had grown accustomed to a certain kind of lifestyle : ) It felt nice to be on our own, even if that meant it was a bit less luxurious.

Phil writes about our last day in Peru here. You should check it out!

Next up: Our trip to Tokyo (what! how? why? when do you find the time?)!